Dads, did you pass the wrench on to the son/daughter??

The attached pic is of my son standing next to his '54 effie. Started working on it together when he was 16....finished it one year later in 1976. This pic taken last September at a car club picnic. Still wrenchin on it occasionaly but mostly just keepin it up and driving the wheels off of it. He has a daughter 19 that insists she wants a Crosley station wagon some day. She attends most car shows with us. He has two sons neither interested at all in cars.

My other granddaughter is now 11 and she usually rides shotgun with me in the Merc. (You can see just the back quarter in the pic) Here I'll be 70 next month and she always says we're going on a date so she climbs in the front seat, scoots over next to me and takes over the tape player. Prolly looks like I'm a pervert sitting next to her but we have a great time.

 

I got my mechanical ap***ude from Dad and the hot rod thing too. Since he died when I was a kid I've always wondered what we would have built together.

I'm working on corrupting our son Travis. We have a project pickup for him and I started him welding a few months ago. He's 10 and loves to tinker in the shop when I'm out there. He keeps on cooking up things for me to do for him and I'm trying to help him do them himself.

Our daughter Kendra enjoys visiting with me in the shop but that's about as far as her interest goes. I'm not going to push her.

 

My story is similar to Fab32s only I am the son and helping dad get back into it. My lil brother didnt get to work on cars much as a kid since we all kinda took a break from it but now he has a cycle project at our shop. Our little boy just turned one year old, he already has a bicycle (see my sig) and hangs out in the shop while we work. Uncle T and I have visions of toys,halfpipes and building the 28 Pickup with LilT as he grows up.

 

My dad always loved old cars and p***ed that on to me, but he never worked on cars at all. As a kid, one thing that really got me into cars was looking at a big fat s****book of old magazine ads my dad had collected when he was a kid in the 1930s. He also used to go to all the local car dealers and get big color brochures for the new cars from back then. There's some really great stuff in that s****book like dealer brochures on ~'38 -'39 Packards, DeSotos, Lincolns, Fords. It's like a goldmine of cool pictures of old cars. I've been obsessed with cars since I was a little kid. My dad also got me interested in old planes too by taking me to airshows as a kid. We used to go to the Harrah's auto museum out near Reno somewhere when it used to be huge with about a thousand cars before Harrah died. They had rows of Deusenbergs, Pierce Arrows, Packards, Bugattis, Stutz Bearcats, Mercers......, and even an old Don Garlitz rail dragster. I loved that place.

My older kids aren't into cars a whole lot. My youngest son has always liked old cars since he was a baby, but he's a teenager now, and more into other stuff like girls and music, but he likes to go with me to car shows and races and helps me out in the garage once in a while. I try to get him involved with helping me make decisions about stuff like how low should I chop it, what wheels look cool, what color looks cool. He helps with the fun stuff, like when we chopped the top, or when we channeled it, or when we drag a project home for the first time. He's not old enough to drive, but right now his dream car is an old early '60s station wagon.

I think car nuts are kind of born that way. If you watch little kids playing with toys, you can tell who's going to be a car nut from the time they're 2 years old. The kids who will grow up to be future car nuts will be screeching Hot Wheels around and making engine noises and crashing noises, or trying to figure out how to ride their toys super fast down the driveway or crashing into walls with them. When you take them to the library, they'll find a kid's book on NASCAR or drag racing while the other kids look for **** like Barney or Spongebob.

 

My father liked cars and fast driving but never worked on them.I learned to fix them cause I owned ****boxes that broke all the time.My two grown daughters like cars,especially faster ones with clutch pedals,except their husbands don't.

 

My Dad (now in his 80s, and blind) was into cars from the beginning. He still has some old pictures of his 1936 Ford coupe with full skirts and several others. He ran his own shop for years, got me interested as far back as I can remember and I've always had one kinda hot rod or another. MY two sons are different as day & night, the oldest could care less, barely knows how to check his oil (but he is a computer whizz and makes good $$....good kid)....my younger son is a total gearhead and his 51 chopped shoebox is proof of that.

 

Some real touching posts here! As you can see, my son doesn't fit well in most rods. He can't even shift the Model A with his knees against the dash and he can't see out of it or the 55 Chev with the stock seat. Might be a deterent to driving hot rods (6'8"). The grandson (from oldest daughter) is my next hope - here at Christmas in the A rumble seat (6mo). Took the son to car shows, drags, circle track, swap meets, go carting etc from infant to teen years - Mason Kamanaokeakua F (grandson) here we go again. Took the 2 daughters too and there is interest there in having one of dad's rides someday. The son picked up the skills but uses them to build surfboards now. Living in LA also makes it hard to find housing with garage work space. He did fix up the front end of his 4 runner recently after rear ending someone on the 405

 

My sons still wrench with plastic tools, but definately the spark is there. I'm doing my best to ensure they don't end up dansing ballet

 

My Dad P***ed The Torch To Me, And I Past It To My Daughter And She Threw It Down And Said It Was To Hot . How Ever, The Striping Brush Fite Her Hand Better So She's Still In The Game!!!!!

 

My boy is 9 years old.He's building a 34 pick up now.
I plan on doing a post showing him working on it,cutting welding.

He's been going to swap meets (works with me) and car shows since he was a toddler.
Keeps surprising me what he remembers.
("dad,where's the steering column we got for the truck" what? oh the '40 in the rafters)
And only wants old stuff,nothing repop.

 

OK guys, this is what my dad taught me about cars....see that tool box over there, those are my tools, DONT touch them......THATS IT........stan

 

My dad is/has always been a gear head and he definitely p***ed the torch/addiction to me. Its one thing that has brought us much closer than we would have been as i grew up.

Check it out, i found this photo of me in 85 or so a**** a few of his beasts...

 

My oldest daughter is 19. Got her a 77 Trans Am when she was 16 and she drove it all through high school. She had the baddest car in school. Now we have it in our shop and we are doing a total restoration. She has always helped me work on old cars. She welds, paints, air brushes, helps rebuild engines, etc. My other daughter is 10 and she is always out in the shop with me. She has her own tool bench and tools. She is always drawing plans and building something. She also does "body work" on Hot Wheels and other toy cars and paints them. They are both helping me on my current projects which are a 31 coupe, 51 Merc, 53 Chevy PU, 48 Ford PU, 71 MGB, and 71 Chevy PU.

 

My brother taught me more than my dad,My sons and I have been learnin together,we didnt know **** about 2 stroke dirt bikes,but the time we've spent learnin has been as they say"priceless".I've always been a good"taker aparter" but "puttin together" is another story!

 

i hope my daughter (who's 2 and a half) has interest in cars enough for us to do it together. Even if she doesnt build her own, I'd like her to be at least comfertable around them. I know GUYS my age who cant change a flat tire (thats just sad). thats not going to me my daughter.

 

Can a proud parent blow his own horn??
My oldest son Nick Shaff works on Tim Wilkerson's NHRA nitro funny car.
They were #1 qualifier at the Winternationals 2 weeks ago.
They are now #1 qualifier at Phoenix !!!!
Matt Shaff [proud parent]

 

I got hooked on hot rods from the guys in the neighbor hood when I was a kid we are only few miles from the famed Oswego drag strip so race cars and hot rods were in every ones garage, My dad is a welder for 50+ years and still at it. I p***ed the torch on to my boys, and now my grand daughter is in the garage with all three of us when we are working on something. This year she will be 3 and I plan to teach her about welding like my dad taught me and I my sons. Her first car was a 32 roadster pedal car powered by a dewalt 14.4 v drill motor and she started driving at 1 year old. I think it is the best thing a parent can do, I have kids stop by all the time to have some thing repaired because their dad doesn't understand cars at all. Teach your kids a skill and they will remember for ever, I know I did.

 

I guess you would have to say my grandpa on my mom's side of the family was the origin of my hot rod gene,,,he was considered by the local law inforcement in his younger days as a dealer of non taxed white lightning.

He had a old ford sedan with a few modifications,,and made his appointed rounds in the afternoons and evenings back in the 50's

I remember riding with him in the old car,,,not on his runs,,I don't think.

He was always tinkering around with that car when I was small and stayed with my grandparents.

My dad thought a car was for getting from point A to point B,,,although he had a couple of cool rides one being a 57 Dodge with a BIG engine,,,and a nice 56 Chevy sedan delivery,,but he didn't even change his own oil or plugs,,,,

But in all honesty,,,his dad left him when he was a kid and never had a dad to teach him and as I got older my dad encouraged me to learn and let me do some of the work on his cars.

As for my kids,,,one daughter would rather never ride in another old car as long as she lives,,,the other daughter says that her sister can have the house,,,she just want's the cars when we are gone,,

I have a granddaughter and a grandson but they are a little young yet,,,but they do like for me to pick them up at school,,,,they both prefer the roadster. HRP

 

Pasted 1 to Rusty (Dirty31) I hope 2nd to Danyelle (Dirtyprincess) !

 

Boy !! she has grown up !

 

Been Taking My 2 Little Girls To Car Show As Early 4 Months Old, They Are Just Used To Rod Runs And Junk Yards, Got A Family Portrait Doen In A Kansas Junk Yard. Take Them To Work When I Can, And I Use Tool Catalogs And Used Machinery Magazines To Show Them Stuff And New Words. They Like Because They Do Not Know That Iam Showing Them Unuasal Stuff They Just Think These Are Daddys Books And Things, If I Fix Somwthing Around The House I Have 2 Little Helpers (yes I Bought Them There Own Tool Belts And Hard Hat) I Don Dare Leave Them Home If I Need To Got The Hardware Store They Have Go With Dad To Get Parts As They Know It. Just Hope When They Get Older It Will Stick With Them

 

Dad had it!! I got it!!! My little ones have!!! My favorite riding budies are my two girls ( ages 6 and 7 now) who love to ride around and do big smokey burn-outs!!!

They help me work on the world record holding Henry-J my dad left to me that he built in the 1960's!!!

I helped my dad rebuild the engine in the early eighties to go nostalgia drag racing where he let me drive it at the age of 14yrs old!!!

I guess I got it at the age of around 5 when I watched him and a few budies rebuild the whole car on the back patio of my house as I played aroud them or watched through the sliding gl*** as they fired it up with no exaust!!!!!!!!!!! I was the mascot they said!!

 

At 21, I'm not old enough have kids at the driving age (or kids at all ), but I did get the wrench from my dad. He's a gear head and so is my grandpa. I think it runs in the family. I can't figure out why some kids who have parents who love cars and the kids want nothing to with them. Just doesn't seem right to me.

 

Where are these vehicles now?

 

i sure hope i can p*** it on... 'cause i got way too many projects for me to finish! ;-)

 

No, I bought him his own socket set...